By Katie Essig
Berthoud Recorder

WINDSOR –– Berthoud High School’s girls softball team didn’t seem able to quite find its rhythm against Windsor. The Spartans started off a little slow in Thursday’s 4A Northern Conference showdown and by the end of the second inning found them trailing by seven runs en route to a 9-4 loss.

In the top of the third inning, Berthoud finally made a move on the Wizards. The Spartans got the ball rolling with a Danielle Wikre grounder to first base that moved Megan McGinn around the bases for the Spartans’ first run of the game.

Amy Ekart, Victoria Puchino and McGinn later scored in the sixth and seventh innings but it wouldn‘t be enough. McGinn finished 2-for-3 with a run batted in. Ekart also went 2-for-3 with a double and Puchino doubled. Kaitlyn Bending had Berthoud’s other hit.

Windsor’s Brianna Seaman went 2-for-2 and drove in three runs. Tayler Hall was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Along with her contributions on the scoreboard, McGinn had a busy day in the outfield, proving to be, arguably, the busiest player in the field. The right fielder recorded four pop-fly outs during the game.

Despite a strong performance from McGinn and many other players, the Spartans hurt themselves with five errors compared to one for the Wizards, who had 12 hits off Puchino.

The loss dropped Berthoud to 10-5, 7-4 in the conference.

Berthoud was coming off a 12-5 win against Longmont and was hoping for another win against Windsor (14-1, 10-1). But, according to head coach Dick Klocek, “the team has potential to do great. Some nights they play great and other nights they just seem to lose it. But they know how to play.”

So what does the team have to work on?

“The girls need to learn the mental part of the game better. They looked scared at first. Mentally, they were not there,” Klocek said.